I’m telling myself to think of it as having a whole third of the summer left, rather than that 2/3 of the summer is over.
A month is a niiiiice long time, right??
1. Declutter the house from top to bottom, one room at a time.
I’ve made more progress on this…I’ve just got the closet and bookshelf left before Joshua’s room is finished, and I organized the coat closet this week too.
And in the coat closet, I came up with some storage solutions that will hopefully help it to stay more organized. I’ll take a photo and show you.
I really, really need to tackle Sonia and Lisey’s room this coming week. And it will be a doozie. Dear me.
2. Go swimming or have waterplay (sprinkler, slip n slide) more than once a week.
3. Arrange sleepovers, since this is easier to do in the summer.
I think everyone has had a friend here for an overnight except for Sonia. So I should work on that!
4. Make homemade slushies with the kids.
Yup!
5. Visit the library at least every other week.
Yup again…we’ve been faithful library patrons.
6. Go camping again (since our new air mattress was so comfy!)
7. Write an ebook about keeping Christmas simple.
I changed my mind about this. And since there’s a lot more to say about that, I’ll explain it all in a post soon.
8. Order school curriculum for the coming school year.
Nope. But I did print out the forms that list all the required subjects, so I’m a leetle bit closer to getting started on this.
9. Make a fire in our backyard fire pit and roast marshmallows over it.
10. Sell/give away the extra electronic junk we have in our office.
I did list two things but only one sold.
11. Teach Zoe to ride her bike without training wheels.
I’m thinking maybe this should be a fall goal. 😉 #kristenthinksitstoohot
12. Figure out a new chore assignment plan for the kids now that Sonia and Zoe are old enough to do more around the house. Must delegate more.
13. Write a letter to my grandpa each month (he doesn’t have the internet, so I have to do this the old-fashioned way.)
Check. And when my dad talked to my grandpa on the phone, my grandpa mentioned that he’s enjoying my letters. So, yay.
14. Visit Mr. FG’s grandma and go for a swim in her rooftop pool (we keep wanting to do this but it’s never worked out so far!)
We did do this and I’m so happy it finally worked out.
It’s odd (but fun!) to stand at a pool fence and look straight out into the sky.
15. Make a spur-of-the-moment trip to go get ice cream cones.
16. Eat breakfast at the pier.
Too hot.
17. Visit a pick-your-own farm.
Too hot.
18. Maaaaybe paint my kitchen cabinets. Still hemming and hawing on this one.
I’m pretty sure I’ve decided I want to do this. The question is, can I get it done in August?
19. Tackle my pile of clothes that need to be mended/modified/dyed.
I worked on this a little more…I sewed missing buttons on two pairs of pants and turned two hole-y pairs of jeans into shorts.
Because I’m sure some of you are wondering, the match is there to hold the threads up so I can make a shank, which gives the button a little bit of wiggle room. I pull the match out out, wrap the thread around between the button and the fabric a few times, then tie the thread off.
That sounded way more confusing than it actually is. I should probably take pictures of the process or something.
20. Get outside to enjoy lovely summer evenings.
We had one of these this week, and we did indeed go outside for a walk.
And since then it’s been miserably hot. Oh well.
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How’s your summer been going? Are you spending your time mindfully?
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Today’s 365 post: I made some more chocolate zucchini bread. And I took pictures.
Lisa H
Tuesday 31st of July 2012
About the training wheels... My boyfriend's daughter was ab-so-lutely certain that she couldn't do it and a friend of his made a suggestion. He said to take off the pedals as well as the training wheels. This way the only thing the child is thinking about is pushing the bike with their feet. Oddly enough, it seems to help them "feel" the balance better without the distraction of pedaling. After a couple of hours of just propelling with feet, replace the pedals and see how it goes. Our child got it figured out in less than a day! And off she went...no training wheels! Give it a try! Lisa
Laura Vanderkam
Monday 30th of July 2012
Tonight! Do the ice cream cones tonight! That's spur of the moment, right? I'm really curious what happened with the ebook goal, so looking forward to that post.
Kate
Sunday 29th of July 2012
We just checked off "Take the kids to New York City" for a weekend, and man, are my legs sore from all the walking! We had a rather frugal weekend for NYC, too - the only entry fee we paid was for the Central Park Zoo, where the smiles on my son's face as he watched the penguins made the fee utterly worth it. :)
Victoria@Snailpacetransformations
Sunday 29th of July 2012
If it is at all humid where you live, I would put off painting the kitchen cupboards until it cools down a bit and the humidity drops. I find with kitchen cabinets its hard to do them indoors, since you have to spread them out, so I tend to use a big inexpensive blue tarp put over the back yard, and since paint does not set well in humid and hot climates, its best to wait till the hot humid weather is over, otherwise you risk it flaking prematurely (believe me I found that out the hard way!!!)
Lili@creativesavv
Sunday 29th of July 2012
Hi Victoria That's good to know. And could explain why when we painted out deck railing a few years ago (when it was super hot/humid) the paint peeled badly the next winter (despite using quality primer and paint). The next year, we sanded and repainted the railing using same brand paint/primer. This time in a cooler summer, and it has done well. Maybe that explains why.
Jo@simplybeingmum
Sunday 29th of July 2012
We are just 1 week into our 6-week-school holidays. I can cross off the camping one! We are just back from 4 days under canvas (is it still called canvas? probably not... more like polyester?) near Cheddar Gorge (Think British Cheese...Cheddar...apparently many years ago it was matured in the caves). It was our first camping holiday as a family. Fantastic! A proper back to basics. We've had such wet weather here in the UK, we timed it just right (well kind of - twas 40C/100+F in the tent when pitching it! and as for trying to keep the food cool that was very difficult). I can concur about air mattresses. I've been having a lot of problems with my lower back (probably due to pounding the pavements 3 times a week with my running buddies) and the day we arrived I was really struggling. 3 nights on an airbed and I feel like a new woman! Think it might be time to change the mattress on our bed at home! Hope you get some cooler weather so you can get some more crossed off the bucket list but it looks as though you've been having a fantastic summer... love the image of the girls looking out to the sky.
Jo@simplybeingmum
Sunday 29th of July 2012
p.s - we tried toasted marshmallows for the first time over the gas-burner (not quite an open-fire, but they weren't allowed where we camp!). I'd wanted to do this with the Kids since I'd seen one of your photos. It was a resounding success. So much so, even though we arrived back home today I've promised one last toasting tonight to round the holiday off. Good job I've a gas-hob.